The Bishop's Wife Read Free Page B

get done. I was so worried.”
    â€œNow you can go home and take a nap before the wedding,” I suggested.
    She began to cry.
    Cheri Tate. I had honestly never seen her cry before, not even when her older son was in the hospital with double broken arms from a skateboarding accident. She had mostly been angry then.
    â€œIt’s all right,” I said, moving closer to her. “It’s going to be fine.”
    â€œI just—never thought that Perdita would be married like this. It feels so wrong. It should be at the temple. I talked to her all those years about being married in the temple. A white dress, a white tuxedo, and pictures at the temple to put on her walls forever. And now this.”
    A church wedding also required the couple to make certain promises about their religious beliefs. But a temple wedding is the symbol of extreme righteousness. Perdita and Jonathan hadn’t had any problems with the tithing, Word of Wisdom questions, or attending church every week and supporting their leaders. But the chastity outside of marriage question had been the stopper. I tried to make Cheri see the bright side in all of this. Her daughter was getting married and this should be a happy day. “She still has a beautiful white dress. And Jonathan seems like a nice young man. He loves her deeply and they seem sensible.” Not that either of those qualities would make marriage easy. But at least they would get through the first few years, which could be the hardest.
    â€œThey won’t be sealed for time and all eternity.”
    â€œBut there’s nothing to be ashamed of. They’re marrying, not living together. They’re still going to be good members of thechurch.” Perdita and Jonathan’s marriage would be for “time only,” until they waited the requisite year to be sealed in the temple eternally. The year wait was supposed to make people more eager to marry in the temple in the first place, but it could feel like a punishment. I knew, because Kurt and I had been sealed a year and three days after our own church wedding. It wasn’t something that Kurt brought up a lot, but a handful of people in the ward knew about it. “But what if something happens? What if one of them dies before the year is up?” asked Cheri.
    â€œCome now,” I said. “If one of them dies, you’re going to be worried about whether they were married in the temple or not?” Surely there were more important things to deal with in those circumstances.
    â€œYes. It won’t be binding in the afterlife.”
    â€œBut you can have the sealing done after death,” I said. Wasn’t that what temples were all about? Doing vital ordinance work for those who couldn’t do it themselves? “Or what if they leave the church, either of them? Then they won’t be sealed, either.”
    â€œPeople leave the church who marry in the temple, too. It’s not a guarantee. And the sealing is broken as soon as they disobey their covenants anyway.”
    â€œMaybe you’re right and I’m worried over nothing,” said Cheri. “I don’t know.” She wiped at her eyes. Then she glanced around to make sure that no one else was there.
    Mothers never worry over nothing, but it is true that sometimes we worry over things we can’t control. But I knew Cheri would never have had this conversation with me if I weren’t with her here, in her time of need, and if I weren’t the bishop’s wife. “Is Perdita still in the kitchen?”
    Cheri shook her head. “She went to get her hair done. Jonathan’s sister is doing it.”
    â€œTo save money again?”
    Cheri nodded and wiped her hands on her apron, which wason top of a skirt and nice blouse. I had worn jeans and a T-shirt, anticipating hard work, but I think Cheri felt like she had to wear Sunday clothes every time she was inside the church. “But I feel like I’m